How (and why?) were so many canals built in Britain - discover the extraordinary people and incredible engineering of canals.
One of the most significant and exciting periods in the history of the UK’s waterways was the shift from river trade to transportation by canal.
Canals became the transport arteries of the industrial revolution, carrying goods of all sorts between manufacturing centres and ports. At its peak in the 1840s, the canal system in the UK stretched for nearly 4,000 miles (the distance from London to Chicago!).
The canal engineers were the celebrities of their time, designing and building ground breaking structures and incredible feats of engineering.
This new exhibition celebrates their achievements, which led to the creation of the profession of civil engineering, the science of geology, and the efforts of the ‘navvies’, who constructed the canals using picks, shovels and wheelbarrows.
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Address
London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Road, London, N1 9RT
020 7713 0836
Opening times
Tues - Sun 10:00 - 16:30 and most Bank Holidays
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